Film trap-door.



. E. S. PORTER.

FILM TRAP DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 11, 1911.

1,059,067. Y Patented Apr. 15, 1913.4

r @ya UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFlOE. EDWIN s. PORTER, oF NEW Yonir, NQ Y., AssIGNoR oF ONE-HALE To FRANCIS n.

cANNocK, or NEW YORK, N, Y'.

FILM TRAP-DOOR.

Patented Apr. 15, 1913'.

Original application led March `4r, 1911, Serial No. 612,417. Divided and this application led August 11,

1911,'. Serial No. 643,478.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWIN S. PORTER, a citizen of the United States of America, and residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Film Trap-Doors, of which the following is a specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it Vappertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to kinetoscopes, being upon matter divided out of my applica-l tion for Letters Patent of the United States filed Mar. 4, 1911 Ser. No. 612,417, and the object thereof is to provide a'trap-door for 'the film passing through said lkinetoscope which serves to maintain an elastic though relatively firm pressure upon said film to preventtoo free movement thereof, and also to prevent the buckling thereof adjacent the light aperture.

A Afurther object is to provide means whereby said trap-door `may be readily moved out of and into operative positions from a point exterior of the casing of said kinetoscope; a further object is to provide means for holding said trap-door out of operative position.

A further object is to provide a carrier from which said trap-door may be quickly and readily removed for cleansing, substitution, or repair.

A further object is to provide readily removable, resilient, strips on the side of said trap-door adjacent the film, and which eX- tend to and insure film contact with thefeeding or intermittent sprocket-wheel, thus permitting the.4 quick substitution of said strips in the event of their becoming coated with the film material, as frequently occurs; and with these objects in mind my invention consists in the form of ,construction hereinafter fully set forth and claimed.

My invention is fully described in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawings form a part, in which theA separate parts are designatedfbythe same reference characters in each of the views, and in which Figure 1 is a fragmentary view of a kinetcscope provided with my invention,

`and partly in section; Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2-2.of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is. a view looking in the direction `of the arrow,

2 on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the trap-door removed from the kinetoscope.

1n the drawings forming a part of this@ i application I have shown a portion of the casing a of a kinetoscope throughv which passes the lm a2 around the sprocket-wheel a3 in the usual or any desired manner, said casing being provided with the usual aper- Slidably mounted in a cylindrical passage through the casing ai, adjacent the aperture a4, as shown at b, is a tube b2, the

outer end of which is covered by a cap b3 having a rod tprojecting inwardly therefrom and into the casing, a frame b5 being secured thereon by means of a pin, as indicated 1n Fig. 2, or suitable equivalent, and4 being movable therewith, said frame being composed of two parallel members b having a space therebetween and extending a suitable distance above and below the rod 64, and said frame, hereafter referred to as a carrier, has two pins 57 extending across the space between the members b adjacent the top and bottom thereof, and said carrier is also provided with a finger bs having a notch on the lower side thereof, as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

'lhe trap-door proper consists of a plate c having' an aperture c2 in line with the aperture a4, when in posit-ion for use, and having also two ears 03, preferably arranged on a different plane than the plate o, and which are` in turn provided with notches 04 on the lower edges thereof, said notches being of a width approximately equal to the diameter of the pins 57 which are adapted to enter thereinto. Secured to the side of the plate o adjacent the`wall of the casing, by means of screws d, or the like, are two parallel resilient strips d2 which normally bear against the ilm'to produce a tension thereon and to prevent the buckling thereof adjacent the aperture a4, said strips extending downwardly and around the sprocketwheel 0a'3 and being provided with slots @Z3 for the teeth thereof, thus bearing directly upon the film and insuringan exact rela- I substitution, as the film invariably forms` a coating upon the said strips in its passage thereo'ver which adheres to the film and pro-- duces a jerky movement instead of the smooth movement desired.

Pivotedwithin the casing, at e, is a latch e2 provided with a depending handle e3 and normally maintained against. the under side ofthe finger bs bymeans of a spring et, as clearly shown in full lines in Fig. 1, and, when the frame b5 is moved inwardly by means of pressure on the cap b3, the finger bs slides over the latch e2 until said2 latch `is forced into the notch in the bottom of said finger, as indicated by dotted lines in,I Fig. 1, at which time the frame b5 Iis prevented from again moving to normal position until the latch is released by means of the handle e3, and when the frame b5' is in thgs backward position the trap-door may be lifted until the ears c3 thereon clear the pins 67, for removal, the said ears normally resting in they space between the members be of the carrier Where they are engaged by the said pins, thus moving the trap-door with the carrierI or frame b5.

It will be understood that the trap-door is always moved out of operating position when it is desired tothread a new film, or when it yis desired to move the same manually for any reason and, the trap-door operating means being upon the exterior of the casing, the backward movement thereof is accomplished instantly by the operator and without the necessity for his fumbling with the interior mechanism of the. kinetoscope, this being particularly advantageous when the operator is in the dark, as frequently occurs and, -when he desires to return the door to normal position, all that is necessary is to move the handle of the'pawl to releasethe carrier,`the spring b9 within the passage b and tube b2 forcing the said tube outwardly and thereby moving the carrier therewith until the resilient strips d2 on the trap-door bear firmly against the film, the degree of this pressure against the lm being that of the resiliency of the said ,Y strips and of the spring b". f. I

From the foregoing it will be seen that I provide a film trap-door which is readily moved out of and into operative positions, the former exteriorly of the kinetoscope', which'is quickly removable from thekinetoscope for any reason, and which permits the ready substitution or cleansing o the strips thereon which bear against the film and, while I have shown my present preferred method of accomplishing these results, it

will be `evident that various changes in the' details may be made to meet varying conditions and, with a reservation to myself of all such changes in and modifications of the construction shown and described as conicwithin the scope of the following claims, what I claim as new, and'desire to secure by Let-ters Patent, is

1. In a kinetoscope, a trap-door in the path of the film, exterior means for moving said trap-door out of operative position, means for holding the same in such position, and means for releasing lthe same to resume normal position.

2. In a kinetoscope, an exteriorly operated, slidable carrier, a trap-door detaehably mounted thereon and normally bearing on the film passing through said kinetoscope, and means for holding said carrier 'and trapdoor out of operative position. l

3. In a kinetoscope, a carrier slidably mounted, an exterior, spring-actuated plunger connected therewith, a film trap-door detachably mounted on said carrier, and means for holding said/carrier and trap-door in inoperative position. 4. In a kinetoscope, a slidable carrier, exterior, spring 'actuated means -for moving the same, al film trap-door detachably mounted on said carrier, andy a pawl for holding 'said carrier in its innermost position when forced thereinto'by said exterior operating means.

5. In a kinetoscope, an exterior, spring actuated, plunger, a carrier connected therewith and slidably mounted in said kinetoscope, said carrier comprising a frame 'having a plurality of spaced members and pins extending across said space, and a film trapdoor having ears provided with notches to engage said pins whereby said door is detachable from said carrier.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of the subscribing witnesses this 25th day of July, 1911.

EDWIN S. PORTER. 

